The images
in the following program
are highly sensitive
and may be
as disturbing to viewers
as they were to us.
However, we have to
show the truth about
cruelty to animals,
praying that you will
help to stop it.

This is
the Stop Animal Cruelty
series on
Supreme Master Television.
The fourth Thursday
of every November
is a holiday in the US
called Thanksgiving where
celebrants give thanks
for the blessings
in their lives.

The first Thanksgiving
was observed in 1621
in a place that is now
known as Plymouth,
Massachusetts, USA
by the Pilgrims, or
English settlers, and the
indigenous people from
the Wampanoag Nation.
During this time
of appreciating
loved ones and life,
there are sadly
some beings that suffer
horrible atrocities
due to a tradition
of eating turkey and
other animal products
on this auspicious day.
A Thanksgiving
family reunion
with meat on the table
cannot be called joyful
when it comes at the price
of the anguished death
of our fellow beings.

We've got one thing very,
very wrong about this day
of Thanksgiving
and that's – the turkey.
Turkeys are our friends,
they're not our food.
These are amazing
animals who are
very swift-footed,
they’re used to
running fast distances,
they're highly intelligent,
they look after their
young and we've reduced
their lives to utter misery
in these appalling
factory farms.
Thousands of turkeys
living horribly cruel life,
they’re confined indoors,
they're bred so
they’re so heavy
they can hardly walk,
they can’t even breed
naturally anymore.

Every year in the US alone,
40 million turkeys
are butchered
for Thanksgiving,
20 million for Christmas
and 19 million for Easter.
To keep up with demand
during the holiday season,
some slaughterhouses
employ
temporary workers
to wring the necks
of turkeys in order to kill
more turkeys per hour.

Birds feel pain
and suffering
just like you and I.
Their beaks are sensitive.
They care about
their families.
But in the turkey industry,
just like
the chicken industry,
what we say is
from “shell to hell.”
From the time
that they were born
and come out of the shell
until the time they die,
it’s miserable.

One behavior
shown by turkeys
that clearly demonstrates
their deeply caring,
loving nature is
“the great wake,”
in which a group of turkeys
mourns the loss
of a companion,
with some being
so overcome with grief
that they also die
due to shock.
The barbarous treatment
of these affectionate,
intelligent animals
on factory farms
demonstrates
the enormous insensitivity
of humans.

Now let us look at
the life cycle of a turkey
on a factory farm.
The vicious cruelty
begins with the
insemination of females.
Once the baby turkeys,
or poults, are hatched,
their horrific lives
commence.
The following excerpt is
from a documentary
about a 2006 investigation
of a North Carolina, USA
turkey hatchery by
the US-based animal
advocacy organization,
Compassion Over Killing.
The footage clearly
depicts the savageries
committed by
the turkey industry.

What you are about to see
reveals the treatment
of newly-hatched turkeys
at the facility.
From the moment
they hatch, chicks
endure rough handling
and are treated like
inanimate objects.
Chicks may get trapped
between the trays
of the sorting machine,
often resulting in
severe injury and death.
Many are left for hours
to suffer and die
from their injuries.
Mis-sorted birds
fall into the disposal bin
along with discarded
egg shells and are killed.
Others get caught
on the machine.

Sick and injured chicks
are tossed into containers
and left to suffer for hours,
sometimes overnight.
They are later dumped with
healthy, “surplus” chicks
into the disposal bin
to be killed.
Some newly-hatched chicks
are suffocated
in plastic bags
and sent for testing.
They die slowly
as they struggle to breathe.

The poults undergo
extremely painful
procedures
without any anesthetics
to minimize their pain
or antiseptics
to prevent infections.
The sickening practices
include de-snooding
of male poults.
The snood is a sensitive,
fleshy and nerve-filled
piece of skin that grows out
from the forehead
and if left in place,
grows long enough
to hang over the beak
of an adult male.
The snood may be
violently ripped off
by hand or
cut away with scissors.
Males may also
have the ends of their toes
sliced off or burned away
using microwaves.

Producers amputate
part of the upper section
of beak.
It is painful,
done without anesthetic
and may result in
lifelong pain.

Another farm
but a similar story:
overcrowded,
highly stressed juveniles
who have no outlet.
Just the tip
of the upper beak is
supposed to be removed.

Sadly, for many of the birds
in this shed,
it is barbaric, uncaring,
total amputation.

The poults are crammed
in windowless,
dark sheds
where they are fed pellets
formulated to induce
quick weight gain.
As a result of
the intense feeding regime
and the fact
that they have been
genetically altered
to grow six-times as fast
as they normally would
with larger breasts
and thighs,
the exploited turkeys
are extremely unhealthy.
They experience
severe health conditions
such as liver disease
and heart failure.
The excessive weight gain
they experience
also causes lameness
as their frail legs
can’t support their bodies,
so some die of starvation
and thirst because they’re
unable to reach their food
and water sources.

Turkeys are kept jammed
in these sheds
12 to 26 weeks,
during which time
urine and feces
on the floor build up
to horrendous levels.
The waste produces
ammonia which causes
intense irritation and
burns a bird’s feet, eyes,
breast, rear and throat.
These utterly
sordid conditions cause
the spread of diseases,
such as E. coli, salmonella,
Campylobacter,
Turkey Rhinotracheitis
as well
avian influenza viruses,
thus adding to the animals’
tremendous suffering.

Regular kills are done
by workers
armed with metal rods
who walk through
the sheds, startle the birds,
beat those
too sick to be sold
to death, and then
throw their bodies
into trash cans.
When the turkeys
reach slaughter weight
they’re grabbed by
any available appendage
and roughly stuffed
into crates,
which often results in
broken wings and legs
and other severe injuries.
Up to 2,000 birds
may then be loaded
onto a truck and
transported long distances
to the slaughterhouse
without food, water,
veterinary care
or adequate protection
from the elements.

Our investigator gained
employment at the facility
and worked on the
“live hang deck,” which
is where trucks come in
with the birds in crates.
They come from
the turkey farms where
they live in huge sheds
packed wing to wing,
living in their own feces
in these huge windowless
warehouses oftentimes.
And what he documented
is they arrive at this
facility and the workers
take these
frightened birds who are
flailing and screaming,
rip them out by their legs
and snap them
by their fragile limbs into
these moving shackles
which take the birds
upside down, fully
conscious, and still alive
through a process.

And the first stage after
they’ve been slapped
into these moving shackles
is their heads are taken
through a pool
of electrified water.
And what this water does
is it paralyzes the birds
temporarily
so that they can’t move
and then a rotating blade
slits their throat.
And the investigation
found these birds
flailing about, blood
all over their feathers,
and this form of slaughter
is standard.
This is how
the eight billion or more
chickens in this country
and the over 200 million
turkeys in this country
are killed
every single year.
So that’s the day to day
operations at this facility,
subjecting these birds
to enormous cruelty.

One of the problems
with this slaughter system
is that some of these birds
will go into the scalding
hot feather removal tanks
of water while
they’re still conscious
because their throats
either weren’t slit at all or
the birds hadn’t bled out
or they weren’t dead yet
by the time they reached
these tanks of water.
So some of these birds
go into the water
while they’re still alive.

There is a way to halt the
revolting and absolutely
disgusting mistreatment
of turkeys
that we’ve seen today:
adopting
an organic vegan diet.
Thanksgiving
can then truly be
a holiday of happiness.

Every November, during
that certain holiday,
people take a dead turkey,
take some stuffing
and shove it inside.
Now I tell people
one of my favorite meals
nowadays, yams.
Dish me up a plate
of yams for dinner,
I'm a happy guy.
I tell them this,
they're like, "You just
eat yams for dinner?
I don’t know man.
That's kind of weird."
Okay, but
somebody else's ribcage
sitting on your plate
isn't weird?
Severed legs
and sliced up thighs,
mutilated breasts
on your plate isn't weird?
Doesn't make you
think twice?

Animal proteins are
so hard on your system.
It’s not natural
for us to eat them.
There’s nothing good
or beneficial
about eating turkeys,
especially for the turkeys.

I've had two turkeys
with me, notice the smile.
They're the love of my life,
Roger and Carey.
I've had these
two rescued turkeys
since they were chicks.
If you know these animals,
you can’t help but
respect them, love them,
cherish them,
they're just so special.

If you want to celebrate
the day of pilgrims
arriving in America,
then you should do it
in the way
of celebrating life,
and not celebrating death
and the turkey shouldn’t
be the center point.

So this Thanksgiving,
really let’s make it
about thanksgiving
and be thankful for these
wonderful animals that
we share our planet with.
Where would we be
without the animals?
And as a human,
it’s never been more
important that we share
the planet, our lives,
our respect and our love
with the animals.
Be Veg,
Go Green
2 Save the Planet!

Our sincere thanks,
Jason Baker,
Nathan Runkle,
Gary Yourofsky,
Patty Mark
as well as VIVA! and
Compassion Over Killing
volunteers
for strongly promoting
animal welfare.
You are all
true protectors of life
and we salute you
for your beautiful work.

For more information
on safeguarding the lives
of turkeys
and other animals,
please visit
the following websites:
Animals Deserve
Absolute Protection
Today and Tomorrow
www.ADAPTT.org
Animal Liberation
Victoria
www.ALV.org.au
Compassion Over Killing
www.COK.net
Mercy For Animals
www.MercyForAnimals.org
People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals
www.PETA.org
Vegetarians International
Voice for Animals
(VIVA!)
www.VIVA.org.uk

Thank you
for your presence today
on Stop Animal Cruelty.
May all enjoy a joyous,
vegan Thanksgiving.